Thank you
So six months ago I gave £100 of Steve Andrews' cash to a charity of my choice (no names, no packdrill). I gave online, and apart from a bounceback email from Justgiving, thanking me on behalf of the charity, I have received nothing.
So I thought I'd ask the others at Whitewater what their experiences were…
Out of 46 donations given, it's roughly level: 17 people were either very 'happy' or 'happy', with 20 'unhappy' or 'very unhappy' with what has followed.
Most of the donations were given online, so it seems that half the charities who use this method to take donations haven't got their act together.
We work with charities, so we know they do good work, and the bad experiences we've had aren't down to ungratefulness: more likely inefficient fulfilment for unprompted online donations.
But what about the public? We know there is increasing distrust of large charities, so this isn't just about donors getting p***ed off with one charity. It's about the public's perception of the sector.
What's your online thanking programme like?
Nick Couldry
Comments
Yes, same happened to me. Gave a decent donation via post and even sent in a Gift Aid form; zero response. Not bothered with templated/auto 'thank you' responses, but would have liked a basic acknowledgement of some kind that cheque received. Something more personal would have been a BIG encouragement to me to maybe give more regularly. As is, they are now kinda in my bad books!
Posted by: Dave Conroy | July 2, 2007 12:01 PM
How are we still not getting this?? Surely saying thank you and engaging with supporters is the very least we should be doing. http://blog.givingmatters.co.uk/2007/07/04/saying-thank-you/
Posted by: Adrian Melrose | July 4, 2007 04:34 PM
Similar situation across the water here in Ireland. I made 15 (small) online donations this time last year as part of a test. Only 11 bothered with a thank you (some of which were very unsatisfactory) and a handful didn't even bother to record my contact details. You'd think by now we'd be getting the basics right.
Posted by: Damian O'Broin | July 11, 2007 08:48 AM